Vegan Garlic Dough Balls
Vegan garlic dough balls – these incredible dough balls with garlic butter are easy to make and so very moreish! Served with a cheesy cashew dip they make a great centrepiece for a celebration, and are perfect party food too.
Servings 29 dough balls
Ingredients
Dough:
- 500 g (4 cups) white bread flour
- 10 g (3 teaspoons) fast action (instant) yeast
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon sugar
- 3 Tablespoons olive oil
- 160 ml (⅔ cup) unsweetened non-dairy milk (I use soy) lukewarm
- 160 ml (⅔ cup) water lukewarm
Cheese Dip:
- 75 g (2 + ⅔ oz / ½ cup) raw cashews
- 2 cloves garlic peeled
- 1 ½ teaspoons tapioca starch
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 2 Tablespoons nutritional yeast
- 1 teaspoon cider vinegar
- 160 ml (⅔ cup) water
Garlic Butter:
- 85 g (rounded ⅓ cup) vegan butter/spread
- 4 cloves garlic peeled and crushed
- 1 Tablespoon finely chopped fresh parsley
- 1 heaped teaspoon dried oregano
Instructions
- Place the bread flour in a large bowl (or the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a dough hook), add the yeast to one side and the salt and sugar to the other (if salt comes into direct contact with the yeast it can kill it).
- Pour in the olive oil, milk and water and mix to form a rough dough.
- Knead, either by hand on an unfloured surface, or with the stand mixer on a medium/high speed for 5-10 minutes until the dough is smooth and elastic. It should be tacky to the touch but should pull away from the sides of the bowl cleanly. If it feels too wet you can add a little more flour as needed, don't add too much though or the bread will be dry.
- Place the dough in a ,ightly oiled bowl, cover and set aside to rise in a warm spot until doubled in size, about 1-2 hours.
- While the dough is rising, place the cashews for the cheese dip in a bowl, pour over enough boiling water to generously cover them and set aside to soak.
- Line a baking sheet with baking parchment. Grease both the inside and outside of an approximately 11cm wide, 4cm deep ramekin and place it in the middle of the baking sheet.
- Punch down the risen dough and give it a brief knead to knock out any air bubbles.
- Divide the dough into small pieces, about 30g each. I use a scale for accuracy. You should have around 29 pieces.
- Shape each piece into a ball by gathering the edges up and pinching them together. Keep going until you have a neat, well-sealed ball. Flip the ball over, cup it with your hand over the top and roll it until it is smooth.
- Arrange the dough balls slightly spaced apart in two circles around the ramekin. About 11 on the inner circle and 18 on the outer circle (depending on how many balls you have).
- Loosely cover the baking sheet and set aside to rise for about 30-40 minutes until the dough balls are puffy and spring back slowly most of the way if you poke one gently with a finger. If they spring back quickly then they need a little longer.
- While the dough balls are rising preheat the oven to 210°C/190°C fan/425°F/gas mark 7.
- Make the garlic butter - place the vegan butter, crushed garlic, parsley and oregano in a pan and heat gently until melted. Set aside.
- Make the cheese dip - drain the soaked cashews well and place them in a blender with the garlic, tapioca, salt, nutritional yeast, vinegar and water. Blend until very smooth, scraping down the sides as necessary.
- Pour the mixture into a pan over a medium heat. Whisk constantly until it comes up to a simmer and thickens. Remove from the heat and cover with parchment directly on the surface to prevent it from forming a skin, set aside.
- When the dough balls are ready to bake, pour the cheese mixture into the ramekin and spread it level. Drizzle a little extra virgin olive oil over the top if you like and sprinkle with fresh thyme leaves. Gently brush the dough balls with about ⅔ rds of the garlic butter.
- Bake for 20 minutes until golden. A probe thermometer inserted into the centre of one of the balls should reach at least 90°C/194°F. Brush the balls with the rest of the garlic butter then serve warm.
Notes
- See post above for tips, details and step-by-step photos. If you have a question I may have already answered it above!
- As with all of my baking recipes I really do recommend using the metric measurements with a digital scale rather than the cup conversions. Cups are a wildly inaccurate measuring system and you will get far better, more consistent results using a scale, not to mention that it is also easier and less messy than cups!
- Cheese dip adapted from Bish, Bash, Bosh by Henry Firth and Ian Theasby.